How to Choose a Wine Gift

1. Choose a gift basket that's unique

Most people are no longer impressed with the traditional cellophane-wrapped, gaudy, cheap gift baskets and tins of popcorn that most gift companies offer. If you want your gift to stand out, impress, and reflect the care you have for the recipient, choose an unusual gift basket, one you and they have never seen before.

2. Choose a gift basket based on a container that the recipient will want to save after the goodies are gone. 

Most gift baskets are based on a 30-cent wicker basket or cheap throw-away boxes that go right into the trash after the goodies are gone. If you want your gift to stand out and be memorable, give a gift basket based on something they will want to keep and proudly display in their home or office, like a decorative clock, an antique wagon, a rosewood desk organizer, or a brass bowl. These gifts have value and the recipient will remember you every time they look at it for years.

3. Get a basket full of goodies, not fillers. 

Most gift baskets are 98% filler, with very little actual content. The worst seem to be the wine and fruit baskets, with Styrofoam fillers that actually exceed the height of the basket itself. Sending these types of baskets gives the impression that you, the sender, are cheap because you sent them a basket that was mostly filler -- certainly not the impression you had intended.


Gourmet Food and Wine Gifts

4. Choose a gift basket that's made fresh to order.  Most gift baskets are assembled months before the holidays in sweatshops in the Orient. The result is a basket full of stale contents, shipping damage, and a haphazard assembly. Choose a company that uses designers to assemble your basket in your region after your order has been received. You will get fresh ingredients, caring assembly, and specialty handling for your gift.